Platypus' Beginners Guide to Running

omnomnom said:
So im a larger lad...been running for 6 weeks and really getting into it. I'm really struggling to find some half decent trail running trainers...im flat footed so ideally something suitable..any recommendations?

My and the towns first park run tomorrow in Brighouse...very nervous lol.

Edit

Im running 5k in about 31-32 mins asthma dependent. Im not going to make a fool out of myself am I ?
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If nothing else you'd be able to say you've taken part in a a new parkrun which is pretty cool in and of itself. However don't worry about your time, there's plenty of people of all shapes, sizes and abilities at a typical parkrun and the atmosphere will be supportive.

Just go out and enjoy it as much as possible, whatever you do will be a PB and then next time you can try to beat it but more importantly you're out doing some exercise. I find that I'm often a bit quicker running with others than I am by myself but regardless of that the time really doesn't matter much as long as you get round having enjoyed it and with no injuries. Hope you have fun.

I'm planning to volunteer at my local parkrun today since I'm running a team relay later.
 
Managed a pb 5km which i was over the moon with. Running with others certainly helped when it came to the motivation.

I was very surprised at how well it was run and how much was involved. The people around the course cheering you on are great and some of the faster runners stayed behind to clap people over the line.

Really enjoyed it, ill be back next week with some new shoes :).
 
Well done on the 5km PB and glad you enjoyed the event.

I had fun at the team relay, the weather still felt a bit muggy but at least it wasn't quite as sunny as it was early this morning when at parkrun. Hoping to go for a longer run tomorrow as well to build up the mileage a bit before a half marathon in October.
 
Nice one omnomnom, the first of many a PB!

I'm still in two minds about the Winter BallBuster duathlon. I hate the cold and logistically it's a faff for me to get out to Box Hill for 8am on a Saturday morning. I don't fancy cycling 20mi pre-race on what will most likely be a cold, dark winter's morning.
 
Just started running as I turned 40 last year and am starting to feel a little old physically for the first time. Not happy.

My goal is to complete sprint triathlon early next year, but with running being by far my weakest I'm starting with that. I'm just doing the couch to 5k stuff currently and have finished my 3rd run with my 4th due tomorrow.

Once I'm able to comfortably do a 5k with a semi decent time I'll get myself in the pool. It's good to have a goal again.
 
After a bit of Amazon Logistics noobery my Forerunner 230 arrived, woo. Tried to record my ride home at lunch as a run to "test" but apparently sticking it in my bag in run mode whilst inside meant that it must have timed out whilst looking for GPS or something.

Seems like a nice bit of kit anyhow. Going to take it for a spin this evening I think though I can't ruin my legs too much as tomorrow I'm off with Vonhelmet for a cycle up a load of local hills from the Tour of Britain route.

edit: Whelp, that sucked :p https://www.strava.com/activities/701657231

Got a stitch which went after a few seconds rest..then quickly came back. Tbh given that I don't want to ruin my legs it seemed a good point to stop anyhow. Walked the last ~mile back home.

Took it a bit easier than I have in the past when trying to get back into things and it felt like my legs were less dead due to that. Still hard work compared to cycling though :p
 
If you find yourself getting a stitch on the same side all the time, modify your breathing pattern so you are inhaling and exhaling when the opposite foot lands if possible i.e. stitch on right side, start to exhale and inhale when left foot lands.

See if that helps.
 
Faustinooo said:
Thanks. There's a Decathlon nearby actually so i'll pop in at some point to pick one up.
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Even better if you've got one nearby!

Ran 20:03 at Parkrun, frustrated to miss out on my first sub20 by 3 seconds, but still took 10 seconds off my PB.

I've got a race on nearly every Sunday in September so I'll probably wait until I've done all those before going for the 5km PB again. I'm doing x2 10km,1 5 mile and one Half marathon.
 
2nd run of the week. Took it very slowly today (as my HR reading, which might be dodgy, can attest to). Didn't feel like hard work cardiovascular-wise and my legs loosened up about half way through the 5k. Feet are in pain though and my legs are now feeling a bit ruined from the combo of running and relatively hilly riding I've done lately. Rest day tomorrow ftw.

I'm still not really sold on running compared to cycling but I will persevere :p
 
FrenchTart said:
2nd run of the week. Took it very slowly today (as my HR reading, which might be dodgy, can attest to). Didn't feel like hard work cardiovascular-wise and my legs loosened up about half way through the 5k. Feet are in pain though and my legs are now feeling a bit ruined from the combo of running and relatively hilly riding I've done lately. Rest day tomorrow ftw.

I'm still not really sold on running compared to cycling but I will persevere :p
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I have a friend who's a pretty good cyclist, He'll do a 10mile TT in 22minuets, I did the same TT in 29, My heart rate was sat at 150 the whole way so I wasn't stressed, I couldn't go any fast due to the power my legs could put out.

He's been out for a run with me and the roles are reversed, We went for a 5km run which he could only just manage at about 5:40km pace

So I suspect running will help with you cardio fitness, but not the power you put out when cycling.
 
Running this year definitely hindered my cycling form. I'm weaker than 2015 for sure. It is probably due to spending less time on the bike in order to train my running.

A friend is visiting from the US this week and wanted to do his first ever half marathon... this morning... at 6am... before work. Knackered now!
 
back home and getting into some regular running again after 3 weeks of mixed up training. Hoped I would return to some cooler condition's but it was the same sauna that I left 3 weeks ago, oh well.

Got some good quality runs done in the relative cool of Germany, but then when i moved on to Scotland I concentrated on some hills rather than Tempo or MP running. Overall much less quantity than average with more missing days than intended, e.g. recovering the day after my friends wedding!

Weekly miles were 74, 40, and 69 miles. So I now feel like I have tapered and had some solid recovery for the final hard training to come over the next 6 weeks before my Marathon.


This week:
Mon: flying home.
Tue: 13.2 miles at 8:12 pace. Low humidity morning was fantastic
Wed: 16.2 miles at 8:13 pace. Was going to do a lactae threshold run but right foot hurt a little and it was quite a hsck runnign in the ehat and humdity (37*C) after being used to runnign at 10*C in Scotland. So I just plodded along at an easy pace instead fo doign any quality.
Thur: Swimming (man I lost a lot of swim fitness in 3 weeks), and then 8.2miles at 8:25 pace. Damn, this was w=one hot, humid and horrible run. Sunglasses compeltely fogged up, driping with weat within 5 minutes. Runnign shoes socaked and squalechign sweat, and now all the horrible skin ailemtns that healed in Europe have returned. Chaffing of your scrotum is not fun. Next time I run after siwmming I need to remeber to pack my bodyglide in my swim bag!



Hoping to get 20 in tomorrow.
 
neilw said:
I have a friend who's a pretty good cyclist, He'll do a 10mile TT in 22minuets, I did the same TT in 29, My heart rate was sat at 150 the whole way so I wasn't stressed, I couldn't go any fast due to the power my legs could put out.

He's been out for a run with me and the roles are reversed, We went for a 5km run which he could only just manage at about 5:40km pace

So I suspect running will help with you cardio fitness, but not the power you put out when cycling.
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Interesting comparison. Makes sense really. I've seen similar stuff with runners taking up cycling in the past.

My running isn't really to improve my cycling (though any improvements to fitness are always welcome of course). I would like to not utterly suck at running. Eventually a triathlon but running first, then swimming too....and so on.

Shamrock said:
Running this year definitely hindered my cycling form. I'm weaker than 2015 for sure. It is probably due to spending less time on the bike in order to train my running.

A friend is visiting from the US this week and wanted to do his first ever half marathon... this morning... at 6am... before work. Knackered now!
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So far (in my two runs :p) my cycling has been okay afterwards. I'm sure I'll have to start balancing things more and cycling may have to suffer a little but I'm also on a cut at the moment so as long as I don't let things slip too much my cycling hill climbing should still see substantial improvements :)
 
Running wont directly effect cycling and vice versa. As Shamrock says, the most liekly outcome is if you spend less time doing X as you add more Y then you will loose some fitness for X. IF you kept the training time for x the same then there is liekly a net small benefit for doing Y on top of training at X. that is, cross-training should be in addition to your planned training, not a replacement - if you want to maximize performance in your main sport.
If you are mainly a cyclist and are looking to add runnign then the good thing is you can concentrate your cycling on harder workouts and keep the runnign all very easy.
 
Yup. As above, I may have to work out a balance slightly more in favour of running at some point but especially for now when I'm really just building up some leg strength (my cardio system really isn't being taxed by my meagre running efforts as yet) it's easy to do as you say - keep my strenuous workouts to my cycling.

...which I'm fine with. I actually enjoy cycling, unlike running :p
 
I'm doing the inverse. I also want to do a Triathlon but I've started with running and I'm slowly adding swimming and cycling. I much prefer runnign to cycling as it stands, although I am initially concentrating more on swimming than cycling.

Swimming is interesting because it is so much about technique, not fitness. I've been swimming once or twice a week for a year and made some small improvements but I never fail to see some OAP or overweight middle-aged women charge passed me. Very frustrating when i know they will be collapsing less than 1 miles into a run at my easiest running pace! Cycling and runnign are very linear in comparison - you put the time in the saddle/runnign shoes and you get better. It took me about 1 year of dedicated running to get a 3:13 marathon time and come in the top 7% of finishers. When you are tired runnign or cycling you can just keep on pushing yourself and you reap great benefits in endurance (if you allow proper recovery). In swimming if you get tired then your technique gets all sloppy and you end up learning bad habits that gets reinforced into muscle memory. So I have a love-hate relationship with swimming.
 
Set four new PB's tonight. Didn't really have the energy at the very start but the pace picked up quickly... I'm not the fastest runners by any stretch but well pleased with my PB's from tonights 6.8mile run.

Best 1K, 1Mile, 5K & 10K! Knocked 5minutes off my 10k and nearly 2mins off the 5k. Shan't be keeping it up though, my thighs are tight and achey now :D

It's weird how (my) running goes though. Last years Cardiff Half I averaged 9:10min/mile, most training beforehand was in the 9:30/9:40min/mile range... How? Tonights run felt great (don't get me wrong I was done after it) and could have probably managed another mile or so at tonight's pace (9:10min/mile)... Maybe it's just the atmosphere/nerves/adrenaline on the day that makes it feel less of a chore/strenuous :confused:

Edit: desperate for a new pair of running shoes after the Cardiff Half this year though.. they're starting to look like hobos shoes :D
 
rhysduck said:
Set four new PB's tonight. Didn't really have the energy at the very start but the pace picked up quickly... I'm not the fastest runners by any stretch but well pleased with my PB's from tonights 6.8mile run.

Best 1K, 1Mile, 5K & 10K! Knocked 5minutes off my 10k and nearly 2mins off the 5k. Shan't be keeping it up though, my thighs are tight and achey now :D

It's weird how (my) running goes though. Last years Cardiff Half I averaged 9:10min/mile, most training beforehand was in the 9:30/9:40min/mile range... How? Tonights run felt great (don't get me wrong I was done after it) and could have probably managed another mile or so at tonight's pace (9:10min/mile)... Maybe it's just the atmosphere/nerves/adrenaline on the day that makes it feel less of a chore/strenuous :confused:

Edit: desperate for a new pair of running shoes after the Cardiff Half this year though.. they're starting to look like hobos shoes :D
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Congrats on the new PBs!

Your paces look a bit funny which probably explains your confusion. In general your regular training pace should be around 90 seconds to 2 minutes slower than your half marathon pace. You seem to be implying you only raced 20-30 sexonds a mile faster. Probably 2 reasons for this: you are training too fast and are racing too slow (as a consequence of training to fast).

As for race day there are a combination of factors which help. You should have ideally tapered and have fresh strong legs and fully stocked glycogen stores. If you are training with. Decent load you will get fatigued legs that recover through taper. The mental side should never be underestimated. Finishing a race to your best ability is incredibly challenging mentally. Your ability to push through pain and suffering is a big variable in determining your finishing time,espexially for a marathon. Being in a race will help motivate you a lot to push the pain barrier.
 
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